Jacket & Cashmere scarf – Uniqlo, Sweater – Courtesy of Quiksilver, Jeans – Courtesy of Levi’s Curve ID, Shoes – Zara, Bag – Courtesy of Chanel, Watch – Casio via ASOS #teenvogue

Photos by Yu the 11-year-old again, talent-o-meter raising the roof.

Dear Diary,
I woke up today and had a swig of yesterday’s red bull to start the day fresh. There was a slight whiff of bacon burning in the house, but I think it was the neighbours roasting a pig in their snowcovered lawn again. Weirdest people ever. I shuffled down to the kitchen in my blue teddybear pjs expecting to pass the thumping music from my brother’s room and my mum’s blowdry opera, but there wasn’t a sound. The ventilation in the toilet was humming but where were my mummy and daddy? Where was my brudder? AHHHHHHH!! (wait, I skipped to the part where I put some of my brother’s cologne on…)

Is it just me, or is this always the story of December 27th after the official festivities have died? The noise of the holidays is suddenly zapped, you wake up in the Home Alone movie with everyone else gone to resume their lives and next thing there’s maple syrup and broken glass on the stairs.

It’s already the wee hours of Boxing Day here in Poland (is that the day boxes were born in a barn? I KID. Goodness, you must think I have a take on everything), but I still wanted to wish you a very warm and happy Christmas !

Food for thought: It’s only natural that we celebrate the birth of an individual only if his/her story of life and death were worth remembering. So for Christians it may be encouraging to read the Easter message on Christmas to remind ourselves of why the birth of Christ. And perhaps for those unsure of the faith, it might be worth investigating the life & death (and resurrection) of Jesus before entirely dismissing the birth story as a fantasy or an exaggerated tale.

Shirt – Uniqlo Menswear, Belt – JHYoo, White Knit – Lithuania, Skirt – Storets.com, Shoes – Zara; Thank you hallway mirror for being ever so accommodating.

The Grinch has stolen bits of my tripod and probably also the remote for the camera. I guess it serves me right for inviting him over a tight scheming session to de-commercialize Christmas and dress up as Robin Hoods and steal Christmas back to the original owner, the birth of Christ. He must’ve grabbed them as he was storming out when I asked how much green foundation makeup is usually required to cover all his wrinkles & pores.

Happy Christmas Eve, all. xx

Lomo LC-A+ Courtesy of Lomography

Big apologies to Lomography as I’m very certain they approached me with the LomoAmigo project hoping I might share some fashion scenes. I do think these results do emphasize the worth of the camera better – my ordinary life has quite a low fashion value, and if the LC-A+ is truly an snapper for life it would’ve compiled 5 rolls of absolutely randomness with only a sprinkle of said ‘fashion’, and voila what do we have here. The only thing I could ever ‘whip out’ in my life had been the tissues in the bra when I was 13 before my mother would approach me, but the past few months the camera had cosily taken its place in there. The reason I carry this around everywhere is because there’s hardly any obligation for composition or simply, much thought really, into photographing – of course after you’ve gotten used to the levers and the calculus problem you have to solve before every shot. Think, would such spur-of-the-moment shots would be achievable by, again, the tank Canon? Do check out my LomoAmiga interview if you’d like.

* Wig pic unrelated to Seven Sisters incident, that one I asked for permission for and the owner said TAKE PICTURE, TAKE MY MONEY, NO SHOOT I HAVE FAMILY.

Coat – Mum’s Deni Cler, Dress – Mum’s Fürnkranz, Shoes – Nine West, Cashmere Scarf – Uniqlo, Bag & Belt – JHYoo

The minute I stepped outside Warsaw airport it was WHAM, a scratchy slap across my face with the rotten realization that I’ve been painstakingly lugging around 23kg of junk that’s altogether suitable for a different climate. As always, I’d completely underestimated the bitterness of -18Cº (-0.4Fº) and packed inadequately; forgive me, but UGGs are starting to make more sense now. There’s only so much shuffling I can do in my mother’s wardrobe to seem like nothing was missing during the raid, but I was never able to fool her by scattering food all over the dinnerplate to seem like I’m done – so I don’t really suppose I’ll get away with this.

On a separate note, these photos were taken by Yoo and Ji today, two cheerful 11 year olds in my church. Granted, I had to juggle a few snowballs to lure them away from their friends and plant some enthusiasm by turning the photoshoot into a game of sorts… those who’ve ever babysat will agree: the Who Cleans Up First Wins! game is so so soo deceiving and fun. I did all the camera settings and quickly explained how the focus works, and said the one with most focused photos will win. I forget the score but I think I won.

Evil, who, me?